Second practice in Las Vegas turned into a difficult and messy session from the very start. The track was already slippery, and a bit of rain between FP1 and FP2 made the surface even worse. Because the night-time temperatures were very low, the tyres did not warm up properly, so drivers had very little grip.

McLaren arrived for FP2 after making several tests in the first practice. In FP1, they tried two different rear wings, but for the second session they put the older rear wing on both cars. This decision seemed to work well, because the McLaren looked more stable and the drivers felt more confident.

Even so, the conditions continued to cause problems. Oliver Bearman, Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar all locked their front tyres on the long straight and ended up in the escape road. Charles Leclerc also had trouble when he started his out lap, going wide at Turn 9 because the car did not turn as he expected. As the session settled down, Leclerc went to the top of the timings, followed by Liam Lawson and Norris, while stronger winds made controlling the car even harder.

With twenty minutes left, the red flag came out. A marshal believed that a drain cover near Turn 17 might be loose, so Race Control stopped the session for safety checks. Many drivers still had not completed a fast lap on the soft tyres. After an inspection, officials said the track was safe again, and the session restarted, but only six minutes were left.

The last minutes brought more problems. Leclerc’s Ferrari slowed down with what he thought was a broken gearbox, ending his session early. Just a short time later, another red flag appeared with two minutes remaining, because the same drain cover was moving again when cars drove over it. That meant the session was stopped for good.

Lando Norris ended the session on top, just ahead of Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, while Charles Leclerc stayed third. Nico Hulkenberg was fourth, followed by Isack Hadjar in fifth and Liam Lawson in sixth for Racing Bulls. George Russell finished seventh, Alexander Albon was eighth, Max Verstappen took ninth, as Lewis Hamilton completed the top ten.